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What you’ll learn about the Opioid Crisis in America

In this course, you will learn about opioid use and addiction and how it has evolved over time, leading to the current public health crisis in the United States. We will cover all of the following points:

• Medical and non-medical use of opioids, including heroin and fentanyl• How to manage pain with and without opioids• The risks and neurological pathways to opioid addiction• That addiction is a disease of the brain, not a lack of will, and there are multiple ways people can become addicted to opioids• How men and women experience opioid addiction and treatment differently• How opioid addiction impacts adolescents and young people• The individual and social impacts of opioid addiction• The latest harm reduction approaches that law enforcement and public health officials are using to reduce opioid overdose deaths• Empathic evidence-based behavioral approaches and effective medications that health care professionals can offer people who have an addiction to opioids• How the path to recovery is not always straightforward, but there is life after addiction